Bitcoin Drops Anew on Fears of Sales From Mt. Gox Distributions

(Bloomberg) — Bitcoin is under pressure again on concerns about possible sales of the token by creditors of the failed Mt. Gox exchange, which has begun returning a roughly $8 billion hoard of the largest digital asset.

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The cryptocurrency slid as much as 5.2% on Monday before paring some of the wobble to trade at $55,290 as of 12:13 p.m. in Singapore, some $19,000 below March’s record high. Smaller tokens such as Ether and XRP sank too.

Sentiment has also been hampered by signs of German government disposals of seized Bitcoin, while global markets as a whole are in a cautious mood as investors digest the results of weekend legislative elections in France.

Once the world’s biggest Bitcoin exchange, Tokyo-based Mt. Gox was hacked in 2011 and went bankrupt in 2014. The long-awaited, staggered return of tokens to creditors spotlights a potential wall of supply coming into the market.

The charts below analyze the outlook for Bitcoin following the token’s 25% retreat from its all-time peak in the first quarter.

Technical Test

Speculators are scouring charts for patterns that may signal an end to Bitcoin’s tumble. Tony Sycamore, market analyst at IG Australia Pty, flagged the 200-day moving average. A sustained rise above that mark would be an indication that Friday’s intraday low of about $53,600 was a “capitulation,” he wrote in note.

Prolonged Losses

Bitcoin stumbled into Monday with an inauspicious slide. If the retreat lasts through Sunday, the token would post five straight weeks of declines, the longest such losing run since the 2022 digital-asset bear market. There’s a risk of a “grind lower” in prices until the Federal Reserve begins loosening monetary policy, said Stefan von Haenisch, head of trading at OSL SG Pte.

Not So Exceptional

Earlier in 2024, Bitcoin’s year-to-date gain came close to 70%, far above traditional assets like stocks. Now the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index is closer to overtaking the slumping token. Selloffs typically punctuate Bitcoin bull markets and the longer term outlook remains positive, said Khushboo Khullar, venture partner at Lightning Ventures, which invests in Bitcoin-linked companies.

Spot-ETF Flows

Surprisingly strong demand for inaugural US Bitcoin exchange-traded funds stoked the digital asset’s record-breaking ascent earlier this year. The inflows have since moderated, and one question is whether the current weakness will spook ETF investors. But on Friday, at least, they appeared to buy the dip, registering the strongest net inflow in about a month.

The Mt. Gox dispersal is unlikely to lead to mass selling by creditors but the longer Bitcoin spends below $60,000, the bigger the odds of a further price correction, said Hayden Hughes, head of crypto investments at family office Evergreen Growth in Singapore.

Options Wagers

The options market suggests some investors view the Bitcoin dip as temporary: the highest concentration of bullish wagers is around a strike price of $100,000, according to data from Deribit. This may reflect expectations of looser Fed monetary settings in coming months and the momentum behind pro-crypto Donald Trump’s bid to become US president again.

Caroline Mauron, co-founder of digital-asset derivatives liquidity provider Orbit Markets, expects crypto to take its cue from global markets ahead of testimony from Fed Chair Jerome Powell and US inflation data, which are due this week and may influence projections for monetary policy.